Saturday, October 8, 2011

Cheesy post

Hello all you cheese eaters!

So it happened again, no post for over a month. Well this can only mean things around here are going at break neck speed, well sort of, some of it anyway.

To begin we have some of the work that has been going on. As you may know we are in a drought and hay is at a premium. Most places will not sell you more than 20 bales at one time, but we found a place that would give us 60 so we grabbed it. Once back and had the truck parked the goats took advantage of the situation as illustrated by the following picture:

Next up is some of the milk handling activities. This is our second season of milk and we have been working on not wasting any milk. One of the tactics is to make it into cheeses. Emiloo has become very adept at many fresh type cheeses this year. This season I have been practicing at hard cheeses (as I may have said before.) Finally the first successful wheel of Gouda has come of age. By the time we broke into it the wheel was almost 3 months old, which by Gouda standards is very young, but I couldn't wait to try it. Here it is:

You will notice it has a black wax on it. As it turns out waxing cheeses is mainly for exporting them and many Dutch cheeses are not waxed at all leaving a natural rind. Since the cheese wax is a tad expensive learning that waxing was not a requirement for taste or moisture content was great news. Since wheel #4 I have not waxed any of the other 16 I have aging so we'll see if there is any difference in taste after all.

And as promised I have made several Cabra Al Vino wheels. Making this cheese is a little different than making Gouda in a couple of ways even though they both are 'washed curd' cheeses. First, there are the temperature differences, albeit slight and having little to do with the actual difference in the cheese. Second there is a separate step where all of the whey is drained off of the curds and allowed to form a slab. This slab is then cut into 1/4" cubes and salted whereas Gouda has no step like this and is not salted. Third, the Cabra wheels are pressed longer and left at room temperature longer than the Goudas. And finally the Cabra wheels are dunked in Wine as opposed to a brine solution as is a Gouda. So there it is, slight differences account for huge differences in taste, texture and look of different cheeses. Here is a pic of one of the Cabra wheels:I have made 3 of these so far and as opposed to Gouda does not require or even needs to be aged. Cabra is supposed to be more moist and will (hopefully) be stark white on the inside. So far we have soaked them in Stavia, which is an Italian wine. The second was soaked in a Merlot (which hopefully tastes better on the cheese than it did in the glass.) And the last was soaked in a Cabernet. I totally want to break into the first one soooon. And as I promised if you are around at Thanksgiving, which is when we BOTH show up at family gatherings in Dallas, I will have one on me.

Other than that I have been pasteurizing milk and freezing it with the intent of making soap with it over the winter. And as a good note all of the soap samples I have handed out have come back with ringing endorsements. So hurray for that. And again as promised I will have some this holiday season to pass out.

And to prepare for the holiday season we are already 'drying off' our goats and are coming to an end of the second milking season. Very successful in my opinion. We have learned many new things, wasted very little milk, and have poised ourselves for a successful soap business.

Well that's it for now. Be safe out there and we'll see some of you very soon.

Netflix Movie Reviews

Eureka - Nerds gone wild. High tech science run amok with a bewildered sherrif attempting to hold it all together. Was pretty good, but is over now. Sigh.

Bob's Burgers - 2 seasons are on Netflix and I think they are funny. From the crew that brought you Home Movies a burger restauranteur is dealing with family and business issues. Animated.

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino strikes again with a movie of pre civil war south. Gore is good.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - a real mainstream weekend funny movie. I have to admit I did find it entertaining.

Dead Man - painful and slow. But in a way the good kind of pain, although it did drag a bit.

The IT Crowd - A BBC comedy of 2 IT guys and their new boss who has no clue about computers. The characters make this one for me, and Emiloo laughed at their hijinx as well. Although the owner of the company heavy episodes were less entertaining.

Mars - just goes to show how well bright colors please my underdeveloped mind. It was cutesy, and it kept moving along which made the time pass pleasantly.

Breaking Bad - Another one that I just couldn't get into. I kept yelling "Kill him already!" and Emiloo requested I watch something else.

Black Books - Just couldn't get into it. I suppose ever since "Sean of the dead" I have hated Dylan Moran.

The Last Mountain - documentary of how big coal removes whole mountains to keep the lights on regardless of who it affects. Watch it sometime if you want to be pissed at coal peeps. Otherwise support wind power for the future.

Monsters - Hmm, aliens accidentally are dropped into the border area between Mexico and the US. Boy there sure seems some double meaning there. I'll ruin it for you if you like, they are giant flashing octopusses...see? Now you don't have to burn 90 minutes on dribble.

Bill Hicks 'Sane Man' - Stage act from 1989 shows Mr Bill coming into his own already laying groundwork for the big time. Gosh I miss his honesty. Not for children or soft adults.

Portlandia - hee hee hee heeeeee. Ok I liked it a bunch, almost all of it and that's saying something. I watched the first season twice so far, they are scheduled for a second season going on now on IFC. Also check the opening credits music by "Washed Out".

Caprica. It was okay. I am through the first season and am enjoying it less. If you are into drama then this would be ok for you.

Battlestar Galactica, the new series. I liked it. I grew up when the original one was current and this one was a bit better. Thank goodness for Netflix as it would have driven me crazy to had to wait for next weeks episode. Thumbs up.

Shaun The Sheep - ok we have really been drawn in to this series, which is a spinoff character from the Wallace and Gromit movies. If you like W&G you will like these shorts. I think we just love anything Aardman Animations and Nick Park does really.

Night on Earth - Well I liked some of it. That's about all I got on this one.

Leaves Of Grass - I like Edward Nortons work in general. I think he has some great films under his belt, but unfortunately not really this one. It was a bit 'put together', or forced connect the dots. I just didn't believe in the characters. That's me and I could be wrong and it's a terrible tragedy.

Roman Polanski 'Wanted and Desired' - I don't know how you think about his life, or what he did, but you have to admit it is a long and twisted tale of brilliance and shadows. If you want to know more about the man and his life, rent this flick. It will be worth it. Kind of makes it hard to continue to think he should be penalized. You decide.

Darwin Awards - If you have ever heard of the jet assisted car, or currently the new fun thing called 'planking' then this might be for you. It was ok, not great, but somewhat entertaining. Many 'man it's good to be me' moments. If you like other people's pain, even stupid peoples, then this is a movie for you. The foreign kid from 'That 70's Show' was in it--where has he been?

Roshomon - Japanes flick from 1957. It has subtitles so be prepared, unless you speak Japanese of course. It illustrates the way mankind has different perspectives and the faith in humanity can be pushed to the brink. It was forward for it's time, but speaks to the same themes we see today. Thumbs up.

The Hangover - I have had more original things fall out of my butthole. To be more exact it would be as if "Dude where's my car" raped "The Batchelor Party" while on Rufinol. Complete waste of time. This is only the second movie I have considered walking out on, and I was at home.

XMEN Origins: Wolverine - Ok it was fine as an action movie and all. I'm still confused how he grew up from a child and then stopped and has been an adult all this time, but it must be due to my lack of general comic book heroes knowledge.

The Lives of Others - a story of the glimmer of hope that existed behind the wall in the GDR before everything changed. Another with subtitles but well worth the attention paid.

A Town Called Panic - Ok, not everyone is going to like this one. It's stop action and the writing I thought was funking hillarious. Beware, it has subtitles so all of you wannabe lazy movie watchers will have to perk up, that or learn Dutch.

TV Funhouse - was supposed to be funny, but glaring similarities with Peewee's playhouse, conan obrien's show and other just not funny enough material made this unwatchable (from a 'I'm watching this for entertainment standpoint'.)

Chinatown - what can I say, it's Chinatown.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - More fun in the sun battling man's innate need to squash others, even if they are your daughter.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Another great set of movies that illustrates how sinister Sweden really is. :P

The Prisoner - I remember this vaguely from my childhood. I think this is where my fear of 'Mister Bubble' comes from.

Fringe, the series. Well, I find it very Eureka-like, and always relying on the crazy scientist, or shady son's underworld connections is getting weary. Damn I am hard to please.

Eat, Pray, Love - Yup, a girl's movie for sure. "I'll be in the cheese cave."

The Cheese Nun - Awesome if you are into cheesemaking, which we are.

Planet Earth - BBC Nature series. Eggcelent.

Blood Into Wine - Tool leadman Maynard Keenen starts a winery. Emiloo found it irritating as an "infomercial for their winery". meh, it was ok.

The Runaways - Story of the seminal all girl rock band that sprouted Joan Jett. I saw JJ in SA at a night club and she puts on a great performance.

Moon - You're the clone. No you're the clone! And it was entertaining too.

Heroes - season 4. This was their last season. It does get confusing following people's 'essence' from body to body. Still, not a bad series if you like supernatural powers and the choices that can be made. "Butterfly man" needs to work on a consistent accent.

Sherlock Holmes - Well I'll tell you, I watched it twice, and fell asleep twice. Maybe it was the sepia like color palette that made me drowsy, or maybe it was the acting.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - The story about Chuck Barris being a CIA hitman. I loved the Gong Show!

What would Jesus buy? - If it was supposed to be funny, I didn't get it. If it was performance art, I didn't like it. Fake comes to mind regardless, don't waste your time.

Rabbit proof fence - Based on a true story. Very decent entertainment, however shows how cruel humans can be to each other in the name of good intent.

Secretary - Is this the last film James Spader was in?

Zombieland - entertaining, Bill Murray was the best part.

Walmart - the high cost of low price - - Yeah boycotting them is correct after all